This is wonderful news. Share with us some of your journey. What led you to the Orthodox Church?
Its a long story but I will try to condense it, with little detail. I was raised as a Roman Catholic, went through catechism and was confirmed. In my teenage years I was invited to a Assemblies of God church (Pentecostal), after hearing the message of the gospel I had a born again experience. I was a charismatic christian who loved the Lord and wanted nothing more than to bring others into the kingdom of God and live biblically. (It should be noted that while I was in and AG church, I still had a variety of other influences forming my doctrinal, biblical and world view. Ranging from Chuck Swindoll, Hank Hanegraaff, Dr. R.C Sproll, Bishop TD Jakes, even Word of Faith Preachers and Health and Wealth Gospel preachers such as Crefflo Dollar & company!) I felt it necessary to be a biblical christian, this is what brought me to a serious study of church history, the fahters and theology. This lead me to return to the Catholic Church ( I was involved in youth ministry, even the charismatic renewal). However I continued to study and read history and some of the fathers, which eventually led me face to face with the Orthodox Church. Im in the military and was stationed about 20 miles from an orthodox church. I went to the Divine Liturgy, and it was the most beautiful and fulfilling worship experience I had even been a part of. I also met with the parish priest many times to discuss the faith, worship and life as an orthodox christian. However I was hesitant to convert (Im married and have 2 kids, all of who are catholic) and actually did not convert, I waited, studied, prayed, studied some more, prayed some more, and waited some more! I received another assignment (where I am currently) and there happened to be an orthodox church about 5-6 miles from the base. I started to attend liturgy there (all while still going to Mass with my family). However its been four and half years since my initial encounter with the Orthodox faith and the Divine Liturgy. After all this time, I will be chrismated into the church this coming sunday. Glory to God! There is obviously a lot more to the story however I think most people will get the gist!
